GO-mediated synergistic regulation of dispersion and acidity in WO₃ for efficient long-chain α-olefin epoxidation

The epoxidation of long-chain α-olefins is an effective strategy for optimizing synthetic oil products and expanding their high-value-added derivatives. Tungsten trioxide (WO₃) is a promising catalyst for this reaction, yet pure WO₃ suffers from low specific surface area and a high density of Brønsted acid sites (B acid), resulting in poor activity and selectivity. Herein, graphene oxide (GO) was employed as a support to anchor WO₃ via an in situ growth strategy. Leveraging the strong interaction between the oxygen-containing functional groups of GO and the acidic hydroxyl groups of WO₃, we achieved both high dispersion and effective reduction of B acid sites on WO₃, successfully fabricating a high-performance WO₃/GO catalyst. In the epoxidation of 1-octene, the WO₃/GO catalyst exhibited excellent performance, specifically, its catalytic activity for producing 1,2-epoxyoctane increased from 7.9 mmol g_WO3 ^-1 h^-1 (pure WO₃) to 20.3 mmol g_WO3 ^-1 h^-1, representing a 2.6-fold enhancement in catalytic efficiency. The catalyst also exhibited excellent performance towards other long-chain α-olefins. This study provides a simple, efficient, and dual-benefit strategy for the structural modification of WO₃-based catalysts, offering a promising approach for designing low-acid, highly dispersed metal oxide catalysts for the efficient conversion of long-chain α-olefins.